Winkler Annual Art Exhibit
Mr. Peter Dyck (Pembina): Madam Speaker, I rise today to inform the House of a very special event that officially got underway in my constituency this morning. Under the direction of Marcel Debreuil, the area's eighth annual art exhibit opened at Garden Valley Collegiate in Winkler. Each year students tap into their creative nature and create various pieces of art to display at the annual art show. This year's show will exhibit artwork designed by students from not only the Pembina area but also Portage la Prairie, The Pas, Carman, Altona, Winnipeg and Brandon.
In addition, this year's event has taken on a truly international and multicultural flavour. American schools from Grand Forks, Cavalier and Walhalla have submitted works from their students. As well, this year's exhibit will display a strong representation of aboriginal art and interactive workshops.
Manitoba has a unique and rich artistic history. Our scenic landscape, abundant wildlife and cultural diversity certainly act as an incentive for aspiring artists. However, in today's world there are many things that compete for the leisure time of our children. The pursuit of artistic endeavours is not always one which our youth gravitate to, despite the rewards of spirit and mind that can be gained from it. That is why more than ever as parents and communities we need to encourage our young people to become involved in a form of positive creative expression.
Madam Speaker, the Winkler art show also provides another valuable lesson. In a time when much of the discussion in Canada will focus on issues such as discrimination, this exhibit shows that we cannot only respect the differences in cultures but that we can celebrate in them and appreciate them for their diversity. There are many young people who have spent many hours in the creation of the pieces they are to display over the next few days. During the course of this work and their interaction with other presenters, I am sure they have learned many things not only about themselves but about others as well. This is what truly makes this event special.
I would like to thank all the organizers and artists who have made this year's exhibit a reality. Your dedication to the arts, your community and the young people of Manitoba is truly appreciated. Thank you.
Manitoba Telephone System
Privatization
Mr. Clif Evans (Interlake): Madam Speaker, the Manitoba Telephone System is a billion-dollar asset still owned by the people of Manitoba. Now the Conservative government is asking Manitobans to buy back what they already own. In the past, through cross-subsidization, MTS has ensured that Manitobans, rural and urban, enjoy the second-lowest phone rates in North America. By selling MTS, local home rates will rise in order to provide large profits for the Conservative friends.
We in the NDP have a solution to the Filmon government's excuse that MTS needs to generate additional revenue. In the last six years over $2 billion was raised through the sale of HydroBonds. Rather than selling off MTS, the government should use this example to generate revenue for MTS like they did with Manitoba Hydro.
MTS has served Manitobans well for almost a century as a public utility; however, this government believes that the time has come to leave the nest, as the MTS minister and the Finance minister have stated. However, due to the fact that this decision to privatize MTS was undertaken without consultation from the Manitoba citizens who still own MTS, this government is privatizing MTS, which is not owned by these ministers but is owned by the people of Manitoba.
This government pretends that they are acting in the best interests of Manitobans; however, Manitobans are not fooled. Under public ownership Manitoba residents of rural and northern Manitoba pay, on an average, less than one-third of the actual costs. In 1993, the Filmon government ordered MTS to spend $35 million hooking up Unitel and Sprint to MTS so they could skim long-distance revenues. MTS profit has dropped by 30 percent since then, while Saskatchewan, the only other publicly owned telephone company in Canada, has grown and made profits of $500 million since 1991. The sale proposal of MTS allows foreign investors to buy one-third of the company which is far more than enough for control. This kind of system that this government is moving towards is not the best for Manitobans.
Spring Flood Volunteers
Mr. Ben Sveinson (La Verendrye): For the past number of weeks, my drives to the Legislature have been very interesting, to say the least. Every day, I and my constituents would see the water levels getting higher and higher in the ditches, in the creeks and in the rivers, and we knew that it was a matter of time till we faced the very strong possibility of floods. More recently, as the waters came over the banks of the ditches, creeks and rivers, there were several communities that required sandbagging and a lot of help. Of late, many evenings and weekends found me throughout southeastern Manitoba joining hands with those who came to help their fellow man.
The Minister of Government Services (Mr. Pallister) recently rose in the House to announce after his tour that St. Adolphe was among the areas affected in Manitoba. While the waters have crested and appear to be dropping, the past few weeks have seen many anxious moments for people of St. Adolphe, and in addition to them, the communities of Lorette, Ile des Chenes, Landmark and to some degree, Richer and Ste. Anne.
I have seen first-hand the look on people's faces when they came in a variety of forms. The municipalities of Ritchot, Mr. Rob Stefaniuk and his council; of Tache, William Danylchuk and his council; Ste. Anne, Mrs. Lucie Saindon and her council and also the town of Ste. Anne, have banded together in terms of organization and co-operation with EMO. The Mennonite Disaster Service was, as always, present to assist in whatever manner they could. The army was called upon, as they have been in the past, to assist Manitobans, to not simply cope with their own, but also joining hands with the other people.
Madam Speaker, I am here to say that I acknowledge and commend all of those people in my constituency and the surrounding area for the love, the help that they have shown to my people in the constituency of La Verendrye. Thank you.
Manitoba Telephone System
Privatization
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Inkster): Madam Speaker, I just wanted to do a bit of a follow-up with respect to Question Period and comment and encourage the government not to rule out of hand the idea of putting in a mail ballot, if you like, incorporating it into the billing that MTS is putting out in one of their billings. The questions that we are suggesting are very straightforward: I support the efforts to privatize the MTS; I am against your efforts to privatize MTS; the third question, I do not know if the privatization of MTS is good or bad.
The concern that we have within the Liberal Party is that through MTS, material and propaganda is going to be going out telling Manitobans how wonderful the privatization of MTS is, and I do not think that is a balanced factual way to portray this particular issue. Before government starts doing something of that nature, before they start to buy us, that in fact an appropriate ballot of this nature--they can change the words obviously somewhat, but keep it neutral. After all, we did not make reference to the government in terms of, Mr. Filmon wants to privatize. It is a more of an apolitical type of a ballot.
We strongly recommend that government accept it.
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1996 Canadian Census Questionnaire
Labour of Women
Ms. Diane McGifford (Osborne): Yesterday Statistics Canada began delivering questionnaires to what will be over 11 million households and 280,000 farms. The aim is to compile as complete a picture as possible of the lives of Canadians. The major difference between this particular census and its predecessors is that Canadians are now being asked how much time they spend on unpaid tasks. Their answers could influence policies from child care to health care. Since this government prides itself on taking a firm position on women's issues, in particular on violence against women, I ask members opposite to urge their federal counterparts to take the responses to this census seriously and implement policies which will encourage the full and equal participation of women.
A 1986 Statistics Canada report estimated that the cost of unpaid work in the home is about $200 billion, which is at least 31 percent of GDP. The statistics cited by the United Nations put it into a global perspective. Women are half the world's population, do two-thirds of the world's work, own 1 percent of its land and earn only 10 percent of its income.
Previous census forms classified homemakers as unoccupied and without work. When homeworkers are defined this way, the government of the day does not acknowledge that these women who provide such an essential service have the right to be consulted regarding policy. This is madness, considering that homemakers who are likely to be caregivers to children have a special interest in the health, social services, education and child care policies of this country.
Last fall at the United Nations Beijing Conference on women one of the major gains in the platform for action endorsed by a majority of the world's governments was a recognition of women's unwaged work and a call for governments to measure and value unwaged work. We in the NDP are encouraged to see that these proposals are being taken seriously by the federal Government of Canada, and I trust that our provincial government will follow suit and recognize women's contributions to our society.